Even in the midst of a global pandemic, more than 13 million Americans will travel this holiday season to spend the holiday with friends and family. To ensure a worry-free holiday, here are some convenient travel and safety tips to keep your family and home safe for the holidays:

• Remove fall-related objects that might allow access to your home. For example, ladders for cleaning leaves out of gutters can be used to enter a window or scale a fence.
• Don’t post holiday travel plans on social media letting people know that you will be out of town.
• Make sure to have all mail, newspapers, and deliveries stopped or picked up by a neighbor, friend or relative.
• Never leave a key hidden outside. Burglars know all the best hiding places.
• Secure all windows, including those upstairs and reduce the chance of easy entry by cutting tree limbs away from second-story windows.
• Have a friend or neighbor move your car occasionally if it is parked in the driveway.
• Use timers to operate lights.
• Have a home security system installed that includes a 24-hour fire monitoring service that automatically dispatches the fire or police department.
• Consider installing a web-based home security system, that allows you to check on your home while away and even arm and disarm your system from any laptop, cell phone, PDA or other web-enabled devices .

Utilize these safety tips this holiday season and be thankful for your home and families safety.